Karnataka - Bidar   

Celebrating the arrival of Panduranga Vithala

Rishikesh Bahadur Desai

The Lord has left his footprints at two places in Bidar district

HIS FOOTPRINT: This is believed to be the footprint of Lord Panduranga Vithala.

Bidar: A legend about Lord Panduranga Vithala having visited Bidar drives the whole city into frenzy every year. People celebrate his arrival, by singing and dancing. This year, the celebrations will be held on Wednesday.

According to the legend, Lord Panduranga was a common farmer in Pandharapur in Maharashtra. He achieved godliness through his noble deeds. Now, the Panduranga Temple in Pandharapur attracts followers from the State and Maharashtra.

Damaji Pant, an officer under the Muslim kings, was an ardent devotee of Lord Panduranga. He was in charge of the royal foodgrain warehouse in Magalwede in Maharashtra.

The kingdom was suffering from a severe drought and people found it difficult to buy foodgrains. The kind-hearted Damaji Pant threw open the doors of the warehouse to the poor. When a complaint reached the king, he called Damaji Pant to the capital and sought a clarification. Then, Damaji Pant is supposed to have said, "I have taken a loan from the king to feed the people. God alone will repay it."

True to his belief, Lord Panduranga appeared before Damaji Pant and gave him gold coins, equal in value to the amount of foodgrains taken away from the warehouse. He forced him to accept them saying that a farmer from Pandharapur had given them. And before Damaji Pant could believe how lucky he was to have met the Lord, he had disappeared. However, the Lord had left his footprints in Bidar. People believe one of his footprints is in the Shaha Gunj market place and the other is at the Gumbaz Darwaz in front of the Bidar Fort. People still worship these footprints. Fresh flowers are placed on these "Panduranga Pada" every morning.

People from Maharashtra are expected to arrive here on Friday.

They walk to the "Panduranga Pada" singing "Mahar Jhala Panduranga Vithala". They break pots filled with curds and milk, which is considered a symbol of prosperity.

This legend gained prominence after a British officer of the East India Company mentioned this in his research paper on droughts in India. He was of the opinion that droughts occurred in the Nizam's state of Hyderabad in a 12-year cycle.

His paper became the basic document for the Nizam to form his scarcity relief policy. This year, Agriculture Minister and district in-charge Bandeppa Kashempur will inaugurate the celebrations, according to a release from G. Nageshwara Rao, president of the Arya Vysya Sangha, the organisers.

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